(Minghui.org) Greetings, revered Master! Greetings, fellow practitioners!
Before I began to practice Falun Dafa in 2000, I was an underworld “Big Brother.” I fought people, bullied others and dominated the local markets. I did anything for personal gain, so I made many enemies. Eventually, I was framed and sentenced to eighteen years in prison. During the appeal period I was imprisoned in a detention center. I refused to obey the rules and I often beat and scolded the other prisoners. The guards could not do anything to me, and I became a “big brother” in the detention center.
Something happened in China on July 20, 1999 which shocked the whole world—the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) began to persecute Falun Dafa practitioners. Every media in China broadcast the CCP’s lies about Dafa, and the detention center was no exception. Every detainee was told to criticize Falun Dafa. Somehow, whenever it was my turn to speak, I felt dizzy, experienced tightness in my chest, had difficulty breathing, and I was unable to talk. Only after I began practicing Falun Dafa did I understand that Master was already taking care of me.
A Falun Dafa practitioner in his 50s was detained, and I took initiative to ask him about Dafa. He smiled: “You won’t be able to practice this.” “Why?” I asked. He just smiled. I guess I must have looked scary with iron shackles on my feet and a long beard on my face.
Several days later, another practitioner was brought in. The cell lead searched him and found a roll of toilet paper which had something written on it. When I asked, he said it was Hong Yin, poems written by Master, and he was arrested for practicing Falun Dafa. I asked him what crime he committed, he said, “The government misunderstands us.”
I noticed the practitioner mopped the floor every day. I asked the cell lead why he was made to do this. “He likes to do it every day,” the cell lead claimed. I scolded him. He was afraid of me, and immediately said, “We will have someone else do it.”
On March 21, 2000, another Dafa practitioner was brought to my cell, and he introduced me to Dafa.
By the time he was brought to our cell, he hadn’t eaten for three days. Yet he was smiling. The cell lead told the prisoners to pour fifty basins of cold water on his head. This was an unspoken rule in the detention center, and no one who just entered was exempt.
By that time, I had already developed a positive opinion about Falun Dafa. When I saw the prisoners were about to torture the practitioner, I said, “No one is allowed to pour water on him.” They were afraid of me and did not do it.
I chatted with this practitioner, and he told me how wonderful the Dafa is. I was touched by his sincerity. He showed me the five set of exercises. After I did them I felt very good.
One day the practitioner told me, “You need to read the Dafa book.” He was released a few days later.
The second day after he was released, a guard said the practitioner came to visit me but he was sent away. I knew he must have brought the book for me. I felt bad.
Then the miracle happened. A few days later when I was meeting my family members in the visitation room, a man entered. My instinct told me he was here to bring me the book.
We looked at each other. He said the released practitioner’s name and asked if I knew him. I said, "Yes. You can give it to me.” He took out the book Zhuan Falun and handed it to me. I got the Dafa book! But I didn’t finish it and put it down. I did not pick up the book for more than a month. I later learned that the first time you read Zhuan Falun, no matter what happens, don’t stop. If you do, it will be difficult to pick it up again.
When another new Dafa practitioner was sent in, I took out the book and showed him. He was stunned: “How did you get the book?” I said he could read it. He started to read and would not put it down. I thought I must have missed something when I read it. “You have been reading the book for many days,” I said. “Maybe it’s my turn to read it?” He handed the book back, “You read it. I will read when you don’t.”
This time when I started reading Zhuan Falun, I could not put it down. Every sentence from Master touched me deeply. I felt Master’s great compassion, and I felt I finally found my way home.
When I recall that time, my eyes fill with tears. For the sake of saving me, Master arranged everything and endured so much for me!
Seeing I was reading every day, the guard who supervised our detention cell asked what I was reading. I told him it was Zhuan Falun. He said with disdain: “If a person like you can practice Falun Gong, the public order would have long been good.” I ignored him, and read the book and did the exercises every day.
Three months later, when I was on the toilet, a large amount of black blood came out, and my stomach felt empty and very comfortable. When I told this to a practitioner, he said, “Master is purifying your body, which is great!”
It was true! I was so excited, and I told myself I must cultivate genuinely, and cultivate to the end!
I held myself to Dafa’s standard. I no longer asked the other detainees to serve me.
Once, the director of the detention center and a group of guards came to inspect the cell. They saw me sitting on the ground with a pile of red peppers next to me. They asked, “What are you doing sitting there like a Buddha?” I said, “I’m working.” They all laughed, as I never worked in the past. “You know how to work?” I just continued to pick red peppers.
Sometimes I met xinxing tests. Once, a young prisoner on duty yelled at me, “What are you doing standing there? Why don’t you come over and work!” He began swearing. I smiled and said nothing. The old me would have scolded him or hit him. The other prisoners quickly pulled him away. When they told him who I was, he was very frightened.
Because of my reputation, I was given special treatment in the detention center so I had relatively more freedom. I was able to receive Dafa materials from practitioners outside prison. Then I passed materials to other detained practitioners. A female practitioner asked me, “Boy 18 [that was my nickname in the center, since I was sentenced to 18 years], do you have Master’s new lectures?” I was touched by her pure heart and trust and I sent two more lectures to the female cell. The female practitioners were all very happy.
Many practitioners were unlawfully imprisoned in the detention center. I told the cell leads that they must not mistreat practitioners and they must allow them to read Dafa books and do the exercises. I tried my best to protect practitioners, and I required myself to read and memorize the Fa, and do the exercises every day. This laid a solid foundation for my future cultivation.
The evil intensified the persecution against me. I was transferred to a detention center in another county. I studied the Fa and did the exercises at the beginning. One day, a guard handcuffed my hands behind my back for 24 hours. This type of handcuffs were illegal to use in the country since both arms could be disabled if one was handcuffed for long time. After I was handcuffed for several hours, the pain became unbearable. I recited Master’s poem:
“Great enlightened beings fear no hardshipTheir will is cast of diamondLife or death, they have no attachmentForthright and broad-minded on the road of Fa-rectification”(“Righteous Thought, Righteous Action,” Hong Yin II)
I repeatedly recited this poem and I passed this test under Master’s protection.
I began a hunger strike to protest the persecution. After I refused to eat for 9 days, I was taken to a hospital. My skin was waxy yellow. I heard the doctor tell the guard, “Why did you wait for so long?” They tried to force-feed me, but I struggled and refused to let them do it. They used an iron tool to pry open my mouth and poured a little bit of food in, and I spit it all out. The guards were at a loss, and said, “Who said this person was a gangster? He is a Falun Gong! Get him out of here so that we won’t be tasked with dealing with him!” I was sent back to the first detention center.
A section director was a vicious guard. He tied a prisoner to a death bed, and in less then a day, he was able to get the prisoner to succumb. The section director told me, “If you don’t stop practicing Falun Gong, I will lock you onto the death bed!” At that time, I did not understand the Fa deeply, so I yelled, “Go ahead! You will regret it!” I answered with my human thoughts, which let the evil find my loophole.
The section director got several prisoners from other areas [since he knew the prisoners in my cell were afraid of me] and they tied me to a death bed. My hands and legs were chained to the bed. I was unable to turn, urinate or defecate. It was extremely uncomfortable. On the 5th day of my hunger strike, they brought in some acquaintances to persuade me to eat, but I refused. The next day, five strong men were brought in. They wanted to insert a feeding tube into my nose. They tried but failed. They asked me to cooperate with them. I said, “Cooperate with you? Why am I on hunger strike at the first place?”
At that moment, I heard a voice: “Send righteous thoughts.” I understood immediately and started to send righteous thoughts. I saw tiny things like needle tips falling down in front of my eyes, some even making chirping sounds. Then the doctor yelled “I won’t do it anymore!” He ran out of the room. Those strong men also left.
Later, the evil section director brought in many people, one after another, to persuade me to eat. “I won’t eat unless he allows me to read Dafa books and do the exercises,” I said. In the end, the section director compromised and released me from the death bed. From then on, under Master’s protection, the environment for me to practice Falun Dafa got better and better. I used every opportunity to talk to prisoners and the guards about Dafa.
After I was taken to the prison, I continued to read the Fa, do the exercises, and clarify the truth to people I met. Once I was locked in a solitary cell. I sat on the floor and sent righteous thoughts. A guard saw me doing this from the monitor, and he came with an electric baton. I was not afraid. I sent out a strong thought: Let the persecution turn on the persecutor. As soon as the guard pointed the electric baton towards me, he screamed and ran out. He never came to give me trouble again.
Master said,
“Dafa is what you carry everywhere,Zhen Shan Ren, rooted in mind;A great Arhat walks the earth,Gods and demons fear with awe.”(“Benevolent Might,” Hong Yin )
I always carried Dafa books and e-books with me when I was in prison. When I met practitioners, I gave books to them. It was much more strict in prison than in the detention center. Every day before work started and after work ended, the prisoners were randomly searched. Whenever it was time for inspection. I sent righteous thoughts so they would not search me. In more than 10 years, they never discovered I was carrying Dafa materials. Sometimes, I was called out for a search, but something would happen or sometimes the guard who was supposed to search me suddenly left. I knew it was Master who protected me every moment!
When a fellow practitioner did exercises, the guards beat him as a punishment. One of his legs was severely injured and was amputated. The other practitioners were deeply saddened and outraged. Many wrote letters to report this horrible crime. Only my letter reached the outside world, and it was published on the Minghui website.
The guards were angry and said they would teach me a lesson. They handcuffed me to a tree where ants of all sizes were crawling. I was handcuffed to the tree during the day and to an iron fence at night. I was unable to squat or lie down. They tortured me like this for a week. Even though I was handcuffed to the tree full of crawling ants, not a single ant crawled on me.
Over the years, Master provided me with so much protection which would take days to recount!
I was imprisoned for 16 years, and during the period I had practiced Falun Dafa for 14 years. With my righteous belief in Dafa and with Master’s merciful protection, I tried my best to do the three things despite my circumstances. I advised more than 1,000 people to withdraw from the CCP organizations.
I was released from prison in 2014. Friends and family members believed the CCP’s lies about Falun Dafa and pressured me to quit practicing. I told them the truth of Dafa, and I told them “Without Master’s protection, I would not be here today. For the past 16 years, I did not get sick even once. I have changed completely, from a bad person to a good person.”
They could see my changes. The old me looked fierce. Now I looked healthy, kind, and good tempered. They even said I became more handsome. They witnessed Dafa’s mighty power. Some of them withdrew from the CCP, and some started to practice Falun Dafa.
With Master’s arrangement and protection, although I spent my past 16 years in prison, many of my old friends extended their helping hands one after another to assist me. I helped them quit the CCP. I started my own business.
I and my fellow Dafa practitioners often encouraged and helped each other. We will do our best in cultivation, save more people, and assist Master in Fa-rectification.
Thank you, compassionate and great Master!
(Selected submission in celebration of World Falun Dafa Day on Minghui.org)